


In Which Kdramas Are Relevant

by AvaCelt



Series: EXO Prompt Fills [14]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Chronic Illness, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, Major Illness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2013-07-17
Packaged: 2017-12-20 12:29:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/887292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AvaCelt/pseuds/AvaCelt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Although Yi Fan is gone, Minseok somehow still feels him beside himself. Even when Minseok's taking a walk, even when's at work, even when he's away, he swears he sees Yi Fan smiling in the distance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Which Kdramas Are Relevant

“ _Why are you always angry?”_

“ _I didn’t know working quietly equated to a lifetime of anger issues.”_

“ _But you rarely smile.”_

“ _People aren’t supposed to smile when they’re staring at three stacks of paperwork.”_

“ _Can you pretend?”_

“ _Only idiots pretend.”_

**~*~**

Although Yi Fan is gone, Minseok still feels the younger man beside him as he goes on with his life.

“What was he like?” Chanyeol’s twenty-three years old and fresh out of college, ready to take the world by storm with his brilliant smile and and towering height.

“Talkative,” he clips back, because that’s the only characteristic he can think of right now that won’t cause him to crush the glass in his hands and bleed rivulets of dark red.

Chanyeol crinkles his nose. “Like me?”

Minseok sighs, finishing the last of his wine before thumbing the taught leather of the couch they were seated on. “Like you.”

**~*~**

“ _Make love to me.”_

“ _It’s four o’clock in the morning.”_

“ _Please?”_

“ _Will you go to sleep afterwards?”_

“ _… I don’t know.”_

**~*~**

Even when Minseok is taking his daily walks around the park, he feels as if Yi Fan is walking right beside him, their legs moving in perfect synchronicity.

“Did he like this park?” Chanyeol accompanies him because he doesn’t like to walk around alone.

“Very much.” Minseok feels like his head could be in the clouds if it tried. His skin feels cool from the early morning dew, and the dampness in his eyes remind him of things he doesn’t want to.

Chanyeol yawns, stretching his long limbs. “How early did he come out?”

Minseok remembers pale skin and thin arms helping a tall, lean body shuffle out of bed and into the bathroom. He remembers the figure dress in sweats and a t-shirt before pushing him awake with a gentle smile and soft eyes. He remembers pretending to begrudgingly awaken and then dress for their daily walk. He remembers coming home afterwards and undressing the taller figure before pulling those long, pale legs around his waist and indulging in the sweetness of his love. He remembers being happy.

Minseok blinks away the dampness in his eyes. “Earlier than the sun.”

**~*~**

“ _Will you wait for me?”_

“ _The actual question is whether or not you’re willing to accept an angrier version of me.”_

“ _I like you.”_

“ _That’s not answering my question.”_

**~*~**

“Do you think he’ll like me?” Chanyeol fiddles with his tie the tenth time. His hair is swept to the side in the latest fashion, and he’s dressed head to toe in clothes Minseok guesses is from the most expensive retail store in the city.

“He likes everyone.”

They come to a cream colored door. The woman at the entrance bows deeply before sliding it open for them to enter.

“You’re very tall,” a soft voice rings through the air.

“You’re taller than me!” Chanyeol exclaims, and Minseok stays put at the entrance, refusing to go inside.

“Min Seok-shi’s told me so much about you!” He gushes, eyes shining with mirth.

“He’s a nice man,” the pale figure admits.

“When are you coming back?” Chanyeols asks. “Minseok-shi misses you.”

Minseok doesn’t stay to listen to the rest.

**~*~**

“You’ll have to let him see you someday,” Chanyeol tells him.

He tries not to count how many years have passed.

“He never answered my question,” he huffs.

Chanyeol disregards the petulance and frowns. “But he’s so lonely without you.”

“We’re all a bit lonely inside,” he sighs wistfully. He tunes out the younger man’s indignant words about this and that and allows his thoughts to roam the bright, blue sky above. He remembers laying down on the grass next to the pale figure while the clouds rolled by. Then his eyes travel towards his surroundings. He swears he sees Yi Fan smiling at him from a distance.

He blinks out of his reverie when Chanyeol’s hand comes up to his shoulder.

**~*~**

“Fifteen.”

Minseok doesn’t drop the coffee mug. Instead, he places it down on the wooden table before taking a seat next to the figure dressed in layers of warm clothing.

“Fifteen what?” Minseok asks.

“Fifteen years,” says Yi Fan. “You haven’t spoken to me in fifteen years.”

Minseok takes a deep breath before realizing just how old he’d gotten over the years. From twenty-five to forty, and he was still working in the same firm, albeit double the salary and thrice the amount of misery.

Yi Fan is thirty-eight and finally rid of his hospital garb.

“That’s a long time,” he says out loud.

“I counted,” says Yi Fan. “They wouldn’t let me walk outside, but I still woke up every morning. And I wrote down the number of the day.”

“Why?” He asks. “I never visited you. What if I wasn’t still here?”

Yi Fan’s eyes are sunken in and the skin around his light brown orbs is dark and pockmarked with age and the aftereffects of daily medicine. But the dim light deep down still shines with a beauty Minseok has yet to get over.

“I always knew you’d wait.”

**~*~**

Yi Fan has trouble walking on his own. Minseok doesn’t mind carrying him around on his back.

Chanyeol pops in regularly, like a permanent houseguest. Yi Fan surreptitiously asks if he’s the baby Minseok’s always wanted to adopt. Minseok tells him that an overgrown manchild is the last thing he needs in his life right now.

While Chanyeol falls asleep in the guest room and mumbles about the third floor secretary, Minseok carries Yi Fan back to their bed. They lay there in complete silence and stare at the ceiling until Yi Fan falls asleep. Only after Yi Fan’s snoring on his chest can Minseok close his eyes and accept sleep’s inviting gaze.

When they go for their morning walk, Minseok spends fifteen percent of the time scolding Chanyeol, and the other eighty-five gazing at Yi Fan as he holds onto his arm and tries to keep up. Minseok always slows down.

Later, while Chanyeol buys them ice cream, Yi Fan kisses him on the cheek.

“You’re not angry anymore.”

Minseok huffs. “They messed you up, alright.”

Yi Fan smiles, and it’s that gummy smile that first stole his heart and erupted a blush on his cheeks. Now, he only smiles back, his heart blooming with the warmth it had been missing for so long.

“They told me about you after your eighth visit. They asked me if you were scared of me- my disease.”

Minseok snorts. “Gossip queens.”

“I told them you were just sad.” Yi Fan snuggles up to his arm and buries his head in the crook of his shoulder. “I told them that you didn’t want to see me cry.”

“I was scared,” he admits.

“We both were.”

Chanyeol strolls around to see both of them crying silently.

**~*~**

“I love of it when old people are happy,” Chanyeol exclaims. The third flood secretary, Mi Ho, gives him another peppermint candy to shut him up.

“No, really,” Jongdae says seriously to Mi Ho who continues to clack away on her desktop. “He loves it when old people get their happy endings.”

“Too many serial dramas,” Kyungsoo drawls.

“Maybe boss should adopt you as a present for Mr. Wu,” Zitao suggests.

Chanyeol goes on laughing.

**~*~**

“I’m so old,” Minseok wails. It’s been three years since Yi Fan came home.

The taller of the two munches on his popcorn as he waits for the next drama to begin. “I think this Harry character needs a hug,” he calls back.

“Your partner gets older and you’re more worried about drama characters?” Minseok begins to pretend-sob.

“Maybe a sassy gay friend is what he needs,” Yi Fan decides.

“That’s what they all need,” Minseok barks back scathingly, annoyed and utterly depressed about his current status as a forty-three year old man.

Yi Fan ignores his dark frown and merely snuggles close to his chest until the new episode begins.

After a while, even Minseok forgets what it’s like to frown, and falls asleep to Yi Fan’s soft munching of popcorn and the melodramatic tune of the drama.

**~*~**

“Really,” Kyungsoo drawls.

“I can’t believe I let you pull me up to this,” Mi Ho sighs.

“Aren’t they adorable?” Chanyeol giggles.

All the while, Jongdae does the honors of clicking away with his camera, photographing two old men sprawled on a couch in front of a running television.

“Are you sure Mr. Wu didn’t have a baby before Mr. Kim came along,” questions Zitao. “Because I’m pretty sure you’re his kid. Or maybe Mr. Kim’s. Maybe Mr. Kim had a tall girlfriend."

“But why are we taking snapshots?” Mi Ho scratches her head.

“We’re making them a photo album,” Chanyeol says solemnly.

Suddenly, a wild Mr. Kim shifts, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

“… I’m guessing this is when we run?” Kyungsoo looks at his watch and then back and the waking man. “I’m pretty sure this is when we run.”

Jongdae stops clicking the second Minseok’s eyes flutter open.

“Hi, Mr. Kim.” The photographer flashes him a brilliant smile.

At that point, people do begin to run for the door. Minseok would have been able to catch at least two and beat the fury of god into them had there not been a slumbering man nestled on his chest and snoring softly. He bares his teeth an Chanyeol before the younger man slips the door shut and leaves for good with his friends.

“-wazdat?” Yi Fan mumbles groggily, and attempts to rub his swollen eyes.

“Nothing,” he clips, pushing the rising head quickly against his chest before rubbing circles on the man’s back.

“I thought I heard someone,” he whispers tiredly.

“The wind,” Minseok says. “Or maybe your age is showing too.”

Yi Fan huffs and rubs the tip his nose against his chest in discontent. Minseok stifles his laughter and begins humming an old tune.

“Wanna take a walk?” Minseok asks tentatively after a few minutes.

Yi Fan snores softly in response. Minseok joins him soon enough.


End file.
